Semax: Physician Review
Physician-authored review of Semax — mechanism, evidence, regulatory status, and clinical considerations. Ferguson CM — Truthe Research (2026).
Truthe take: Read the full physician-authored review.
Ferguson CM — Truthe Research
Cerebroprotection in acute ischemic stroke: Perspectives on combining cerebrolysin with recanalization therapy
This article provides perspectives on the use of Cerebrolysin as an adjunct treatment to reperfusion therapy in acute ischemic stroke (AIS). In the evolving landscape of AIS reperfusion therapy, we hypothesize that adjunctive cerebroprotective the...
Ribó M, Staszewski J, Zeiler SR et al. — Journal of stroke and cerebrovascular diseases : the official journal of National Stroke Association
Speech Therapy Combined With Cerebrolysin in Enhancing Nonfluent Aphasia Recovery After Acute Ischemic Stroke: ESCAS Randomized Pilot Study
Stroke-induced aphasia significantly impacts communication and quality of life. Despite the standard treatment being speech and language therapy, outcomes vary, highlighting the need for additional therapies. Cerebrolysin, a neuroprotective and ne...
Homberg V, Jianu DC, Stan A et al. — Stroke
Efficacy of Cerebrolysin Treatment as an Add-On Therapy to Mechanical Thrombectomy in Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke Due to Large Vessel Occlusion in Anterior Circulation: Results of a 3-Month Follow-up of a Prospective, Open Label, Single-Center Study
This study hypothesized that Cerebrolysin, a multimodal neuroprotective agent, enhances the efficacy and safety of mechanical thrombectomy (MT) in both acute ischemic stroke (AIS) and recovery stroke phases in selected patients with good collatera...
Staszewski J, Dębiec A, Strilciuc S et al. — Translational stroke research
C-REGS2-A multinational, high-quality comparative effectiveness study of Cerebrolysin in moderate acute ischemic stroke
The main objective of the Cerebrolysin REGistry Study in Stroke 2 (C-REGS2) was to systematically record the routine clinical use of Cerebrolysin in patients with moderate ischemic stroke (IS) following the principles of a prospective controlled e...
Vosko MR, Sanak D, Do Y et al. — International journal of stroke : official journal of the International Stroke Society
The physiopathology of brain-derived neurotrophic factor
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is synthesized and secreted by excitatory neurons. Decades of work with animal models prepared the ground for interpreting the results of human genome analyses associating polymorphisms with memory deficits...
Barde YA — Physiological reviews
Life-Threatening Anaphylaxis due to Cerebrolysin®
In this case report, we describe a well-documented, severe anaphylactic reaction after intravenous administration of cerebrolysin, a neurotrophic agent derived from highly purified porcine brain tissue, consisting of peptides and free amino acids....
Trimmel H, Tauber W, Zikeli M — Case reports in neurological medicine
Astrocytes and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)
Astrocytes are emerging in the neuroscience field as crucial modulators of brain functions, from the molecular control of synaptic plasticity to orchestrating brain-wide circuit activity for cognitive processes. The cellular pathways through which...
Albini M, Krawczun-Rygmaczewska A, Cesca F — Neuroscience research
The Effect of Exercise on Neurogenesis in the Brain
The connection between physical exercise and the brain has long been studied. The evidence showing that physical exercise plays a significant role on neurogenesis and cognitive function has primarily been based on research examining aerobic exerci...
Ben-Zeev T, Shoenfeld Y, Hoffman JR — The Israel Medical Association journal : IMAJ
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor in Alzheimer's disease and its pharmaceutical potential
Synaptic abnormalities are a cardinal feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD) that are known to arise as the disease progresses. A growing body of evidence suggests that pathological alterations to neuronal circuits and synapses may provide a mechanis...
Gao L, Zhang Y, Sterling K et al. — Translational neurodegeneration
Neuroprotective Effect of SGLT2 Inhibitors
Patients with diabetes are at higher risk of cardiovascular diseases and cognitive impairment. SGLT2 inhibitors (Empagliflozin, Canagliflozin, Dapagliflozin, Ertugliflozin, Sotagliflozin) are newer hypoglycemic agents with many pleiotropic effects...
Pawlos A, Broncel M, Woźniak E et al. — Molecules (Basel, Switzerland)
Novel Insights into the Protective Properties of ACTH(4-7)PGP (Semax) Peptide at the Transcriptome Level Following Cerebral Ischaemia-Reperfusion in Rats
Cerebral ischaemia is the most common cause of impaired brain function. Biologically active peptides represent potential drugs for reducing the damage that occurs after ischaemia. The synthetic melanocortin derivative, ACTH(4-7)PGP (Semax), has be...
Filippenkov IB, Stavchansky VV, Denisova AE et al. — Genes
The role of CREB and BDNF in neurobiology and treatment of Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia worldwide. β-amyloid peptide (Aβ) is currently assumed to be the main cause of synaptic dysfunction and cognitive impairments in AD, but the molecular signaling pathways unde...
Amidfar M, de Oliveira J, Kucharska E et al. — Life sciences
Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and Diabetes
Diabetes and its chronic complications still represent a great clinical problem, despite improvements made in the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. People with diabetes have a much higher risk of impaired brain function and psychiatric disor...
Rozanska O, Uruska A, Zozulinska-Ziolkiewicz D — International journal of molecular sciences
Nanodelivery of cerebrolysin reduces pathophysiology of Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD) is affecting >10 million people worldwide for which no suitable cure has been developed so far. Roughly, about two people per thousand populations are affected with PD like symptoms especially over the age of 50. About ...
Ozkizilcik A, Sharma A, Lafuente JV et al. — Progress in brain research
Nanowired delivery of cerebrolysin with neprilysin and p-Tau antibodies induces superior neuroprotection in Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is estimated to be afflicting over 55 millions of individual worldwide in 2018-19 for which no suitable clinical therapeutic measures have been developed so far. Thus, there is an urgent need to explore novel therapeutic s...
Sharma HS, Muresanu DF, Castellani RJ et al. — Progress in brain research
[The efficacy of semax in the tretament of patients at different stages of ischemic stroke]
To evaluate the efficacy of semax and timing of rehabilitation on the dynamics of plasma BDNF levels, motor performance, and Barthel index score in patients after ischemic stroke (IS).
Gusev EI, Martynov MY, Kostenko EV et al. — Zhurnal nevrologii i psikhiatrii imeni S.S. Korsakova
Exercise and circulating BDNF: Mechanisms of release and implications for the design of exercise interventions
Engagement in regular bouts of exercise confers numerous positive effects on brain health across the lifespan. Acute bouts of exercise transiently improve cognitive function, while long-term exercise training stimulates brain plasticity, improves ...
Walsh JJ, Tschakovsky ME — Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism = Physiologie appliquee, nutrition et metabolisme
Changes in Sympathetic Innervation of the Heart in Rats with Experimental Myocardial Infarction. Effect of Semax
The effect of peptide Semax on remodeling of cardiac sympathetic innervation was examined in rats with experimental myocardial infarction. In 28 days after ischemia/reperfusion injury, Semax diminished the growth of sympathetic innervation of vent...
Gavrilova SA, Markov MA, Berdalin AB et al. — Bulletin of experimental biology and medicine
Effects of Semax on the Default Mode Network of the Brain
The effects of nootropic drug Semax on the neuronal network of the brain were studied by the resting state functional magnetic-resonance imaging (resting state fMRI). The study was carried out on two groups of healthy volunteers (11 men and 13 wom...
Lebedeva IS, Panikratova YR, Sokolov OY et al. — Bulletin of experimental biology and medicine
Influence of the N-terminus acetylation of Semax, a synthetic analog of ACTH(4-10), on copper(II) and zinc(II) coordination and biological properties
Semax is a heptapeptide (Met-Glu-His-Phe-Pro-Gly-Pro) that encompasses the sequence 4-7 of N-terminal domain of the adrenocorticotropic hormone and a C-terminal Pro-Gly-Pro tripeptide. N-terminal amino group acetylation (Ac-Semax) modulates the ch...
Magrì A, Tabbì G, Giuffrida A et al. — Journal of inorganic biochemistry
The peptide semax affects the expression of genes related to the immune and vascular systems in rat brain focal ischemia: genome-wide transcriptional analysis
The nootropic neuroprotective peptide Semax (Met-Glu-His-Phe-Pro-Gly-Pro) has proved efficient in the therapy of brain stroke; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying its action remain obscure. Our genome-wide study was designed to investigat...
Medvedeva EV, Dmitrieva VG, Povarova OV et al. — BMC genomics
BDNF and synaptic plasticity, cognitive function, and dysfunction
Among all neurotrophins, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) stands out for its high level of expression in the brain and its potent effects on synapses. It is now widely accepted that the main function of BDNF in the adult brain is to regula...
Lu B, Nagappan G, Lu Y — Handbook of experimental pharmacology
[Cerebrolysin for acute ischemic stroke]
The review discusses existing evidence of benefits and risks of cerebrolysin--a mixture of low-molecular-weight peptides and amino acids derived from pigs' brain tissue with proposed neuroprotective and neurotrophic properties, for acute ischemic ...
iganshina LE, Abakumova TR — Vestnik Rossiiskoi akademii meditsinskikh nauk
Safety profile of Cerebrolysin: clinical experience from dementia and stroke trials
The safety of Cerebrolysin has been shown through many years of clinical use, observations from postmarketing surveillance studies, and safety data from randomized, controlled clinical trials. The reported events showed that adverse reactions to C...
Thome J, Doppler E — Drugs of today (Barcelona, Spain : 1998)
[Nootropic and analgesic effects of Semax following different routes of administration]
Heptapeptide Semax (MEHFPGP) is the fragment of ACTH(4-10) analogue with prolonged neurotropic activity. The aim of the present work was to study the Semax effects on learning capability and pain sensitivity in white rats following intraperitoneal...
Manchenko DM, Glazova NIu, Levitskaia NG et al. — Rossiiskii fiziologicheskii zhurnal imeni I.M. Sechenova
Spotlight on cerebrolysin in dementia
Cerebrolysin is a parenterally administered, porcine brain-derived peptide preparation that has pharmacodynamic properties similar to those of endogenous neurotrophic factors. In several randomized, double-blind trials of up to 28 weeks' duration ...
Plosker GL, Gauthier S — CNS drugs
[Comparison of anticoagulant effects of regulatory proline-containing oligopeptides. Specificity of glyprolines, semax, and selank and potential of their practical application]
Experimental and theoretical demonstration of different effect of certain regulatory peptides (RPs) on blood coagulation is available. The problem of the role of RPs in hemostatic processes becomes particularly significant since, first, the peptid...
Liapina LA, Pastorova VE, Obergan TIu et al. — Izvestiia Akademii nauk. Seriia biologicheskaia
Exercise: a behavioral intervention to enhance brain health and plasticity
Extensive research on humans suggests that exercise could have benefits for overall health and cognitive function, particularly in later life. Recent studies using animal models have been directed towards understanding the neurobiological bases of...
Cotman CW, Berchtold NC — Trends in neurosciences